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0:09Welcome into the FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast. I'm Alfredo Brown, joined by Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson.
0:14Guys, we're taking a look at the 6 must-have fantasy football draft targets today.
0:19These are players that we are taking every single draft and well ahead of ADP because we just don't want to miss out on them.
0:26These are the guys we do not want to leave our drafts without.
0:30Debro, what makes a player a true must-have for you when you are sitting in your fantasy drafts?
0:35When it's a confluence of talent, opportunity, volume, and then I feel like the ADP is wrong, then I'm just going to
0:42continue drafting the guy in almost every spot. Erickson, what about you?
0:45When I feel sick to my stomach when I don't get that player.
0:49Ooh, that's a good answer. That's how I know that I want the player more than anything.
0:54Yeah, that's a good answer. Anyone else? I think that I can, oh, maybe I can push this player another round and
1:01then they immediately go and I just feel this pit in my stomach and I say to myself, no, I'm not letting
1:08that happen in the next mock draft. No, these are my must-have players because I cannot fathom not having them on my fantasy teams.
1:15I think one of my favorite quotes about fantasy rankings was you don't actually know your rankings until you get in your draft.
1:22Because then when you get in the draft, all of a sudden that guy you have at running back 15, you'd rather
1:28take him ahead of your running back 13. And that's how you truly feel, right?
1:33Like those are your must-draft players that you don't want to be without.
1:37So what we're going to do today is we are each going to give you players that we must have within the
1:43top 75 and then some players outside of top 75.
1:46So some early round guys, some late round guys.
1:49We're each going to bring one, two to the table here.
1:52So six players, Erickson, why don't you kick us off with the guy who you must have within those first 75 picks in fantasy drafts?
2:00Chase Brown, RB1 season for the Cincinnati Bengals. He's currently ranked as my RB5 and I think that he is the perfect
2:06pick at the end of round one or beginning of round two.
2:10If you're going to grab a running back with one of your first two picks, which is what I would highly recommend.
2:16Talk about it in my perfect draft strategy guide article over on fantasy pros.
2:20Last year when Joe Burrow returned to the lineup, Chase Brown, we saw a production spike for him.
2:26Over 20 half PPR points per game was the RB3 across weeks 13 through 17.
2:30He averaged a 61% snap share. So that was also considering that, yes, he does see some of his touches and snaps to Samaj AP Ryan.
2:38What we saw in the preseason was close to that similar split 70% for Chase Brown, 30% for Samaj AP Ryan.
2:44But what I'm showing you here is he still was hitting over 20 half PPR points per game, despite the fact he
2:51wasn't playing 90% of the snaps of the Cincinnati Bengals.
2:54This is a super high powered offense. Chase Brown has a three down skill set and has improved every single year of his NFL career.
3:01The last two years, Chase Brown has averaged just side of a thousand rushing yards and nearly 1400 yards from scrimmage.
3:08He's entering the final year of his contract. I think he's going to get paid.
3:12And the receiving, I think is what helps separate him from some of the other running backs that go in the similar range.
3:19List of running backs last year with at least 400 receiving yards and a thousand rushing yards.
3:24I think that's CMC B. John Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Devon H.
3:27N. Chase Brown. Hmm. I love it. I love it.
3:30I'm a big fan of cheese Brown as well this year.
3:34Same bro. It sounds like you are too. Yeah, I've got him at RB five.
3:38And for all the reasons that Erickson kind of stated here.
3:41And I think that the touchdown variance could swing back and chase Brown's favor this year, because everybody likes to worry about Samajay Piran.
3:49But when we saw the both of them on the field, so weeks 13 to 18 last year together.
3:54Yes. Like Chase Brown had 17 red zone carries versus Piran's 13, but he played 71% of the red zone snaps.
4:01So just war of attrition. Like it's going to swing back in Chase Brown's favor if he's playing that much more like
4:07the volume of snaps near pay dirt for a player.
4:10Also, like as good as Chase Brown has been, he's never scored more than 11 total touchdowns in a season.
4:16So he's kind of due for one of those outlier seasons where he scores 14, 18 touchdowns.
4:21And if he does that, he's a top three back this year.
4:25Yeah, I mean, we hope so. A lot of those guys at the one to turn have that potential to be a top three running back in fantasy.
4:33D bro, you've got another guy here, not a running back, but a player within the top 75 that you must have every single time.
4:41Jalen Waddle. I have him as a wide receiver.
4:43Over one of my ranks, I'm willing to draft him as high as that.
4:48Like right now I've got a wide receiver 11, 25th overall.
4:51So I'm willing to almost pull the pull the trigger in the second round.
4:55You don't have to do that beginning of the third round.
4:58You're still going to be ahead of most drafters.
5:01He's going to be the clear wide receiver one for the Denver Broncos this year.
5:05Like for a player that everybody talks about, he's not an alpha.
5:09He hasn't put up like true alpha stats. Really?
5:12Because last year in a run centric offense that held down the volume for the Dolphins, he was top 12 in target
5:18per route run rate yards per route run first downs per route run separation score and route win rate.
5:24And everything outside of like route win rate, which he only was point 2% behind Cortland Sutton.
5:29He bested the corner and Sutton and all of those metrics last year to top 12 and every basically every per route
5:36metrics we should care about for a wide receiver.
5:38That's not elite to people. And he's going from a run centric offense to an offense that was top five and pass
5:45rate over expectation and passing rate last year. And people are like, oh yeah, but the Broncos are going to slow it down.
5:52Really? Because that's all the buzz out of camp.
5:55They're going to be a slow paced offense. Everything out of camp says they're going to be a high paced offense and
6:01they're going to still throw the freaking ball. I just don't understand why Jalen Waddle is a wide receiver to hell.
6:07Like when we enter draft season at the very beginning of it, guys, he was a wider wide receiver three in some rankings and ADP sets.
6:15I'm just going to keep drafting Jalen Waddle every single time that I get the opportunity.
6:20I think the most impressive thing you said there was route, run, win, wait.
6:24Like you could use the fact that you could do that so many times.
6:28I can't even say it once. And then you waddle and wide receiver.
6:32And I like I'm here just like just stuttering all over my W's here.
6:36That was peak performance. Lots of practice. Lots of practice, sir.
6:40Route, run, win, great. That's yeah, that'll be my new pre show warm up there.
6:44All right. I'm going to give you my guy who is a must draft for me.
6:49It's one of those where I feel sick if I don't have him.
6:53And it's Ken Walker running back from the Kansas City Chiefs.
6:56And it's he's going in the exact same area as Chase Brown, a guy that we mentioned earlier in drafts.
7:02He's going 14th overall near that one to turn.
7:05If I'm at the end of round one, I want to take Ken Walker.
7:09I don't if I'm not at pick 12 and and then the one pick in the second round.
7:14I don't want to let anyone else get the chance to take him right now.
7:19He is my running back seven. I'm flirting with the idea of pushing out to running back six because I think the ceiling truly is there.
7:27Chiefs are being are planning on being centered around Ken Walker this year.
7:30He's the fourth highest paid running back in the league.
7:33You don't pay a guy like that coming off a performance like he had in the playoffs to then just not use
7:40him or, you know, protect him for the season and for the playoffs like the Seahawks did.
7:45The Chiefs actually need to make the playoffs this year, and the only way they do that is by using Ken Walker.
7:52And last year, the Chiefs had just one run of 20 plus yards.
7:56They were just not a good offense, not an explosive team.
7:59They couldn't run the ball. Ken Walker had 10 yards 10 runs of 20 plus yards all by himself in a limited role with Seattle.
8:06He was first in missed tackles force per attempt.
8:09So we know we got a talented guy. We saw what he could do.
8:13And Andy Reid loves using a bell cow running back when he actually has one.
8:18He just hasn't had one in Isaiah Pacheco and some of these other guys.
8:22You go back to his days in Philly. You go back to his days with Kareem Hunt and Jamal Charles.
8:28He was willing to use these guys. You go back to 2018 with Kareem Hunt.
8:32That was the last time he was able to do it.
8:3621 opportunities per game for Kareem Hunt at that time.
8:39During last year's playoff run with the Seahawks, Ken Walker was averaging 22 and a half opportunities per game.
8:44He was averaging 23 and a half fantasy points per game.
8:48That would have made him the RB one overall over Christian McCaffrey by a full point per game.
8:53So this is not something where it's like, oh, well, he might sneak into being top three.
8:58We actually saw that when he gets touches, he can be the best running back in fantasy football.
9:03And that's why I do not want to leave my drafts without Ken Walker this year.
9:08I co-sign everything that you stated there. And I think the only thing that I'll add on top, Alfredo, because of how
9:15people viewed Kenneth Walker, because very much like Jadarian Price, they didn't know if he was a good receiver or not.
9:21And they were like, oh, why would have we not had a large enough sample to say that he is very good
9:28in the receiving department in the passing game? Like for a player that was ninth in yards per route run, 12th in first downs per route run.
9:36And that's not the only season that he's done that.
9:39So again, going back to previous years of Andy Reid backfields and running back usage in the passing game, Kenneth Walker will
9:45be used by the Kansas City Chiefs on screens and angle routes this year.
9:49I think we're going to see that. I think with Ken Walker, we might reflect on the 2026 season and be like,
9:56it was so obvious that Ken Walker was set.
9:59Yes. Absolutely smash a super talented player who gets paid, which suggests he's going to see adequate amount of volume, a three down skill set.
10:06And we know he's good and he's explosive and he catches passes.
10:10It's just like checking off every single box. So Alfredo, I have him as my RB six.
10:15Like I'm taking Ken Walker. I have him as my RB seven.
10:18I'm not, I'm taking him over Christian McCaffrey. Like I'm not doing the CMC thing.
10:23So I'm taking Ken Walker. So if I don't get chase Brown, Ken Walker is the next guy.
10:28I'm circling on my end of round one, round two running back list.
10:32I'm doing it guys. I'm going to be brave.
10:35I'm going to move them up to RB six.
10:38Thank you for letting me have with you guys.
10:40Uh, before we move on to some of these later round picks that are must haves for us guys, you can be
10:47practicing your drafts, getting ready for your drafts by using the fantasy pros draft simulator.
10:51Okay. Practice is what makes the playoffs, right? Like it's, or practice makes perfect.
10:56That's I think that's the saying, right? Practice makes the playoffs.
10:59Get ready for your fantasy football drafts this year with our free mock draft simulator, a complete fast, realistic mock drafts in
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11:08I've been listening to the beginning of the draft looks great.
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11:14Practicing from the middle kind of stinks, but you need to know what you're in for when you get to your draft.
11:21So this is the best thing for you to use.
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11:31Gentlemen, let's move outside the top 75. I think this is really where championships are one finding those players who are going
11:37outside of the first five or six rounds. And you're saying, okay, this is the guy that's going to win it for me.
11:44Okay. We each have a player here. D bro.
11:47I'm going to have you start this one. Who is the guy that you need?
11:51That's going outside the top 75 picks. I can't stop saying his name.
11:55But again, that's why he's on this much draft list.
11:58This is Jonathan Brooks, man. And I do not want to leave a draft this year without Jonathan Brooks.
12:04It where he still goes in drafts right now, real time ADP RB 30 looking at it.
12:09So he's RB 30 80th overall right now in my rankings.
12:12I've got him at RB 27 69th overall. So taking him in the sixth round, like when you get to this tier
12:19of running backs where it's like, I mean, come on guys, like a Travion Henderson, Darian Price, Jamlin Warren, Ramondre Stevenson, Tony
12:26Pollard, Rico Dowdle, like all these different guys just draft Jonathan Brooks.
12:29I I'm not worried about Chuba Hubbard. Nobody should be Jonathan Brooks again.
12:33And this still just, it's not getting mentioned enough entering week one.
12:37He will be 21 months past ACL reconstruction. He's a hundred percent.
12:40Everybody's so worried about, oh, he's had two ACL surgeries.
12:43It doesn't matter when your knees are fully healthy.
12:46And we see him playing the bell cow role right now with Chuba Hubbard week one of preseason.
12:51He was on the field for almost every freaking snap.
12:54So he's going to be that guy this year.
12:57His abilities in the past and game Chuba Hubbard not being good last year because people could talk about the injuries and stuff.
13:04It still doesn't change the fact that amongst 49 qualifying backs, Chuba Hubbard zero explosive runs dead last and explosive run rate
13:10dead last and miss tackle rate bottom three in yards after contact per attempt.
13:15Jonathan Brooks, the Carolina Panthers have been waiting for this opportunity to feed Jonathan Brooks, a talented player going in the way back machine.
13:22They spent second round draft capital on. He's going to be the guy and you get him at an RB three price tag.
13:29Yeah, I love I love seeing Jonathan Brooks fall to me in the sixth round or seventh round in drafts.
13:35And right now real time ADP. I mean, maybe we catch up and all of a sudden he's going in the top 75.
13:41But as of right now, people doing their dress.
13:44I've still been able to get him a bit later than I expect.
13:48And I will Erickson. How high are you willing to take a guy like Jonathan Brooks?
13:53I think that's a big one of the things that I think I'm willing to go fifth round, depending on how early other running backs are going.
14:01And I want to have him as my RB three on my team.
14:05Yeah, I think late round five, early round six is the sweet spot for him.
14:09I know that he just went, I believe, I think it was the Jake Sealy and our flex draft where he went in the fifth round.
14:17Now that is a 14 team league. So the rounds are a little different than a 12 team, but that is the range.
14:24And I think it's really important to when you get into your draft room, figure out where Jonathan Brooks ADP is just get an idea.
14:31So, hey, I can reach one round ahead of its ADP.
14:35Make sure I get him because right now I don't think his ADP is really caught up to the fact that yet
14:41you but Hubbard is dealing with a hamstring injury and he gets to face the Chicago Bears in week one.
14:47He gets to cement himself as the RB one.
14:50I know Alfredo, you, I and Tara talked about guys that you want to get on to now before their ADP rises.
14:56Jonathan Brooks was one of my guys that we talked about.
15:00100%. I think we're all three in agreement here.
15:02Let's move on to the next guy here. Erickson, a player we talked about a lot on the tailgate.
15:08All good things. And now we're going to say more good things about him.
15:12So talk to us about Cardinal Tate. If I told you guys you could draft a real life top five wide receiver rookie outside the top five.
15:20Top 30 fantasy wide receivers in 2026. You would say you're crazy.
15:24What are you talking about? Rookies are so expensive.
15:27You can't draft rookie receivers as cheap, especially ones that go top five.
15:31Well, welcome to 2026 because we are here and this is where you can get Cardinal Tate.
15:36I love your narrator voice. What if I told you?
15:39What if I told you? In a world. Especially when you consider that he doesn't even have amazing target competition.
15:45Like he is being dropped into an offense where he can step in from day one and be the alpha target leader on this offense.
15:52You could argue that he had more competition last year at Ohio State with Jeremiah Smith because now it's Wanda Robinson and
15:59then a bunch of second year wide receivers, second year tight ends, pass catchers, unproven players.
16:03Except for Cardinal Tate, who I think is going to emerge as the alpha in this offense.
16:08We've seen Brian Dayball before in the past lean on rookie wide receivers just a couple of years ago.
16:14Malik neighbors in an offense that Wanda Robinson was also part of.
16:18We saw Malik neighbors absolutely peppered with targets. And I don't think Tate is getting enough credit for what he did at Ohio State.
16:25Last year, he ranked first in the class in EPA per target and in positive percentage of his man coverage.
16:31That was per sports info solutions. And when you look at some of those metrics compared to guys that have come out
16:37in years past with the same win rates. Emeka Ibuka, Lad McConkie, JSN.
16:41Three players that I think a lot of people critiqued is are they real number ones?
16:46Can they really command, you know, high target shares?
16:49Can they really be elite at the next level?
16:52Well, I mean, I know that not all of them have reached the peaks of JSN, but we saw pretty impressive rookie
16:58seasons from both Agbuka and Lad McConkie. And I think that if Cardinal Tate were to do anything like those guys did
17:05when they were healthy the last couple of seasons, I think you're gonna be pretty pumped about taking him.
17:10So just looking at what a top 10 wide receiver has done over the last five drafts on average, 78 catches over a thousand yards, 6.4 touchdowns.
17:18Wide receivers selected inside the top five since 2013 have finished as a top 36 option at an 80% hit rate.
17:25For me, this just screams you're getting Cardinal Tate at his stone cold floor.
17:29And then it's just oozing with upside. If Cameron Ward takes a step in his second season under a competent play caller
17:35and if Cardinal Tate is just that guy. So who is Cameron?
17:39Why would you? He went full government name with that.
17:42But Cameron Ward. My narrative. My narrative is Cameron Ward.
17:45Oh, you know, we were going government names here.
17:48Geez. Okay. I do. I agree with you 100% on the Cardinal Tate thing.
17:52I've got him ranked well above his ADP and everything you laid out there.
17:56It's not just that there is this phenomenal ceiling, but that the floor is so high for a player draft selected this
18:03high in the NFL draft in this offense with this lack of target competition.
18:07And the price is great. I mean, you can essentially draft him as a wide receiver three, but because of where he's
18:13going in drafts like he's probably your wide receiver four on your roster depending on your build, right?
18:19So if he does have a big blow up, you get to put that guy in as your flex or wide receiver
18:25three in your lineup most of the time. So I'm I love the pick of Carnell Tate here.
18:31All right, let's go to the final player. This was my guy and this is going to be a little more game theory than anything.
18:38It's not like I'm trying to take him four or five rounds above his ADP, but I want to get Malik Willis in all of my drafts.
18:46And this is not a Dolphins Homer thing because I actually tend to avoid Dolphins players because they never mean anything good
18:53for fantasy except for that one Tyreek Hill year and the one Devon HN year.
18:57But Malik Willis right now is being drafted as the quarterback 20 in the 13th round.
19:02He's essentially free. All he has to do is basically not get injured and he's paying off his draft costs Malik Willis.
19:09We have a small sample size with him, but he's averaged nearly seven rush attempts per start over his career over a 17 over a 17 game span.
19:17That would be nearly 120 rush attempts for him.
19:20And over the last five seasons, there have been 19 qualifying quarterbacks, 100 plus rush attempts.
19:25Every single one of them finished as a top 12 quarterback in fantasy points per game.
19:29And that's what I want is a quarterback that can vastly outkick his ADP.
19:34A guy who, as I mentioned, is going as quarterback 20 and is nearly a lock to be a top 12 fantasy
19:40quarterback if he simply stays healthy and keeps rushing the ball, which nothing would indicate he would stop doing that.
19:46We saw, I know it's all been limited sample sizes with Willis, but we saw him in that first drive of the
19:53preseason, a scripted drive, of course, against the Washington Commanders.
19:56Let a 90 plus yard touchdown drive to rush attempts in that drive alone.
20:00One drive to rush attempts. We see what the ceiling could be with the Miami Dolphins offense.
20:05Now, I don't expect them to be a great offense, but I do expect him to be a very fantasy relevant quarterback.
20:12And what this really does is this allows you to build your team where you don't have to worry about quarterback very early.
20:18You can just hammer away at running back and wide receiver in all of the earlier rounds.
20:23And then I love to pair Malik Willis with a Kyler Murray, a Jared Goff, a Brock Purdy, anyone else that's going in the double digit rounds.
20:32So I don't have to even think about quarterback until I'm getting to round 10, 11 or 12.
20:37In the year 2026, did Konami code just stop being a thing?
20:41Did did did did that just die? Like, did I get the memo?
20:44I think Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson hurt a lot of people.
20:48I just because that's I don't understand it. Like I coast on every single thing that you laid out there, like Alfredo,
20:55like QB 21, 157th overall in a real time ADP.
20:58He's my QB 14. I have him at one hundred and third overall, and you don't have to draft him like fine.
21:04Split the difference. Take him in round 10. You're still going to be way ahead.
21:09And for a guy like he's going to freaking run.
21:12Yeah. It's that simple. I did a mock draft yesterday.
21:15I got him in round 15. Yeah. You don't even have to try not happen.
21:19It should not happen. But again, it it keeps happening.
21:22Yeah. Erickson, where are you at with Malik Willis?
21:25I know this is going to hurt your heart to say something good about a Dolphins player.
21:30No, that won't hurt my heart because I think that after week one, the Miami Dolphins are going to be winning the
21:36Miami Dolphins are going to be winning the AFC East after week one.
21:40And that's because Malik Willis week one performance against the Raiders.
21:44Wow. Look at that. Look at that. He said a nice thing.
21:47I'm so proud of you. This is called growth.
21:50Erickson. It's very nice. We're all playing. There you go.
21:53We gave you our six must draft players. These are all the players that we are willing to take above their ADP
21:59and we do not want to leave our fantasy drafts without.
22:03As always, I want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through myself for Erickson for D bro.
22:09We'll see you next time. Adios. Thanks for listening to the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast.
22:14If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts at
22:20fantasy pros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and tick tock at fantasy pros and subscribe to our
22:27YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasy pros. I'm Nick Turturro.
22:30You probably know me from NYPD blue, the longest yard or Spike Lee's black Klansman.
22:34And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Turturro.
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23:30This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this
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23:55Why do some women yearn for Shakira's black hair to make a comeback?
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